


Let our hearts, like doors, open wide

by Beleriandings



Series: Salvage [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Anwen has four parents AU, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic, Queerplatonic Relationships, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27961187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: In which Anwen displays clear favouritism, and a conversation is had about happiness.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, can be interpreted as light Gwen/Rhys/Ianto/Jack?
Series: Salvage [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047811
Comments: 17
Kudos: 41





	Let our hearts, like doors, open wide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [violetmessages](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetmessages/gifts).



It was a damp and chilly Sunday afternoon and the living room windows that looked out over the sea were all fogged over, blocking out the view. Still, Gwen wasn't complaining; it was sleeting and grey outside, clouds hanging low over the ocean, but in here there was a cosy fire crackling in the old cast-iron hearth that Rhys had fixed up when they'd moved into the old cottage by the sea cliffs. The smell of woodsmoke filled the room, as did a sense of peace as Gwen sat on the sofa with Anwen, and Ianto sat at their little four-person dining table poring over an old laptop; they kept watch on some of their old monitoring channels still, if only to make sure that no one was about to come after them, and that no apocalypses seemed imminent.

(What they'd do if - or rather when - one came, they had decided to leave as a matter of judgement as circumstances required; she knew Jack at least worried about that much more than he let on, and she couldn't say she didn't relate.)

It was just the two of them taking care of Anwen today, since it was Jack and Rhys's turn to go out on a supply run. But that was okay: they'd been sitting in peaceful, companionable silence, a brief hush.

...With the emphasis on _brief_ , Gwen thought regretfully. She had been breastfeeding Anwen on one end of the sofa, but now Anwen had began to fuss and cry instead. Gwen frowned, wiping a bit of dribble off her daughter's face. "What is it, hmm? What do you need, sweetheart?"

"She probably needs burping" said Ianto, glancing up from the screen; ever since Anwen had been mere hours old, Gwen was constantly a little surprised by how quickly and intuitively Ianto was able to divine and attend to her needs. Though perhaps she shouldn't be, she sometimes thought: he'd always been like that when it had been the five of them in the Hub too, always appearing and anticipating what they needed and when with such a knack that she'd at various points wondered if he was using some sort of telepathy to do it.

Still, at this point Gwen didn't need Ianto to tell her why Anwen was fussing. "I know" she sighed. "But I can't get her to."

"Here, let me try" said Ianto, getting up and holding out his hands, and Gwen passed Anwen over. Gwen watched as he held her up against his shoulder, rubbing her back and bouncing her gently. After a while she stopped fretting and burped a bit, before subsiding to babbling and trying to bunch up the fabric of Ianto's shirt in her small, chubby fists.

"There we go" he said to Anwen, wincing slightly as she drooled on him. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?'

"See that's just favouritism, that is" said Gwen, coming up behind him and offering Anwen her finger to grab, as well as a gentle frown. "Why won't you be good for your mum like that, hmm?"

"Face it, I'm well on the way to stealing the title of cool uncle from Jack" said Ianto. "It's been my secret plan this whole time."

Gwen laughed as Anwen blinked softly at her, grabbing at her finger and dribbling on Ianto's shirt. "You'll have to fight him for it" she told Ianto. "He won't give it up easily."

"Oh, I have my underhanded ways to persuade him" said Ianto, turning his head and giving Gwen a sly grin.

"I bet you do, but no more of that in front of her now" she said, rolling her eyes and coming around to sit on the sofa as Anwen, full and sleepy and peaceful now, began to drop off to sleep on Ianto's shoulder. Gwen just looked at the two of them for a moment, smiling slightly.

"What?" said Ianto, turning around, still bouncing Anwen a little in his arms.

"...Nothing, really" said Gwen. "Just... thinking."

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to carry on in her own time.

"It's only..." she said, "I never expected... this, you know? When I first joined Torchwood."

"I think it's fair to say I didn't, either" said Ianto, kissing Anwen's head as she dropped off to sleep at last. "When you first walked into the tourist office with pizza, I thought Jack would Retcon you and that would be the end of it."

"Uh, Jack _did_ Retcon me!"

"Well, exactly" said Ianto, not ungently. Careful not to wake Anwen, he came to sit next to Gwen, passing Anwen back into her arms. "I definitely didn't expect to be helping you burp your baby daughter in three years' time, is my point."

"I barely noticed you, then" admitted Gwen, with a slight frown.

"I know! Didn't even write about me in that Word document before you passed out!" tutted Ianto, shaking his head.

"Hey! I was hardly at my best right then! Jack-"

"Made you amnesia, to use a choice quote. Yes, I know."

Gwen snorted. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Another astute observation, PC Cooper" he deadpanned, tucking in a corner of Anwen's blanket that had come loose. His gaze clouded a little. "Still. I suppose you can't really be blamed... I was pretty good at going unnoticed on purpose, then."

She smiled gently. "I'm glad that's in the past" she said.

"Mmm."

They sat in thoughtful silence for a bit more, before Gwen spoke again.

"Ianto... can I ask you something?"

He raised his eyebrows, indicating _go ahead_.

"Do you... do you miss it?"

Despite the vagueness of her question, she could tell he knew what she meant immediately; perhaps they'd just got that used to one another by now. Still, he paused to consider it before answering. "I still miss Tosh and Owen" he said. "A lot."

"Me too" sighed Gwen.

"I miss the life we had" said Ianto. "I miss making you lot coffee in the Hub and I miss Myfanwy, and I miss chasing weevils with Jack in some godawful sewer while it's pissing down with rain outside."

Gwen chuckled, caught almost by surprise at the tears behind it. "Oh God, those storm drains. But... me too."

"I miss feeling like I was helping people, even if it was only a bit" said Ianto. He frowned. "I miss having a little more faith in humanity."

"Yeah" said Gwen, thinking of a grainy video feed to a cabinet meeting, the things they'd heard said there. In her mind's eye she saw body bags, felt again the desperate, guilty relief as she was turned around and sent to the hospital instead. The sterile, stifling air as she'd waited outside intensive care with Jack and Rhys each clutching one of her hands hard enough to bruise. She shuddered, instinctively finding herself cradling Anwen closer to her chest, at the same time shuffling up against Ianto's side and leaning some more of her weight on him. "I miss all that from before, too. ...But..."

He turned his head slightly to meet her eye, looking at her rather sharply. "But you're happy, now" he said.

" _Well_ , I don't know if I'd exactly call it-"

"You're happy, and you're feeling a bit guilty about it" Ianto surmised. "Because how can you be _happy_ ever again, when such horrible things have happened?" He held her gaze. "Yeah?"

She blinked. "Um. Yeah, actually. How did you-"

He sighed, hand coming out to stroke Anwen's sleeping forehead. "The battle of Canary Wharf" he said. "Almost everyone I knew, everyone I cared for, died there, all in one day. And I managed to pull Lisa out, and she kept me going long enough to..." he tailed off. " _Well_. You know what happened then."

She felt another stab of pain. "Ianto... sorry, I didn't mean..."

"No, that wasn't my point" he said, collecting himself with a deep breath. "My point was... I didn't think I'd ever be happy again, or love anyone again. I didn't think I _should_ , after she died... it just felt _wrong_ , you know?"

"...Yeah."

"But then..."

"Then you fell in love again. With Jack."

"Well, yes" he shrugged. "Jack gave me... meaning again, I suppose. But it wasn't just him. That life we had, Torchwood. Me and Jack, and you and Tosh and Owen. I was happy, by the end. And that was okay, I think."

"Of course it was!" she said, hushing her exclamation quickly so as not to wake Anwen. "Of _course_ it was, Ianto. You were healing! And... _oh_."

He looked at her, with a pointed smile. "See?"

"Yeah..." she smiled, reaching over to clasp his hand. "I think... I think I could be happy again. I think maybe I already am, actually."

"Me too" he said quietly, as though it was a confession. "And I reckon that's okay. Or at least, it will be."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a moment more, clasping hands over Anwen's blanket, each lost in their own thoughts. Then they both twitched slightly as they heard the scrape and rattle of keys, the front door opening, before relaxing as they heard Jack and Rhys's footsteps and voices in the hallway. A moment later the living room door opened, letting in a cold blast of outside air that made the fire flare and spark, waking Anwen up again with a wail.

"Ah... shit, sorry love" said Rhys, hefting shopping bags onto the table. "Didn't mean to wake her."

"It's okay" said Gwen, rocking Anwen in her arms until she stopped crying again, as Jack and Rhys began to put away the shopping. Still, Anwen didn't go back to sleep but began burbling softly to herself, blinking around curiously at the reappearance of her dad and her other favourite uncle.

"Anything happen while we were gone?" said Rhys through the half-open door. They always did this these days, checking in, making sure everyone was okay; it had been vital, early on while it was all still so fresh.

"Nothing new to report" said Ianto.

"Ianto's Anwen's favourite now" said Gwen, pressing a kiss to Anwen's forehead.

"Like I said, nothing new to report" said Ianto with a grin. "Anything happen on your end?"

"A bad case of missing you" said Jack.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You went to big Tesco by the village, all of forty-five minutes drive away. It's hardly Mars, Jack."

"Still."

Coming back out of the kitchen, Jack leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed Ianto softly and tenderly on the corner of the mouth, then turned and gave Gwen a kiss on the head that nearly hit her in the eye as she turned into it at the wrong moment.

"Ow! Jack!" she giggled.

"Sorry. Occupational hazard" he said with a shrug, bounding around to the front of the sofa. He bent down and gave Anwen a kiss on the forehead too, making her gurgle happily.

"Oi, where's my kiss?" said Rhys from behind them, with a grin.

Jack laughed. "Thought you'd never ask" he said, grabbing Rhys by the sides of the head and pressing a loud kiss to his forehead.

Gwen and Ianto were laughing by now, Anwen giggling softly along. "And hey, don't worry, there's enough to go 'round. Advantages of immortality include an infinite supply of kisses" Jack said with a lopsided smile, coming back and perching on the arm of the sofa and putting his arm around Ianto. This was something that had changed too: while Jack had always been affectionate, since Ianto had nearly died he was much more demonstrative with it, not just to Ianto but to all of them. And if she'd once thought that Ianto - and indeed, Rhys - might balk at such casual contact and freely given affection... well. Things had changed.

As Rhys finished in the kitchen and closed the fridge, wedging himself in beside Gwen and taking Anwen from her, and Jack stretched his legs out over Ianto's lap, Gwen looked over at Ianto, the conversation they'd had earlier coming back to the front of her mind.

She was still thinking about it as she met his eye, giving his hand a brief squeeze between them. And in that moment, she knew he was thinking much the same.

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "things you said when we were the happiest we ever were", for [violetmessages](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetmessages/pseuds/violetmessages)! In hindsight I am not quite sure how well this fits the prompt, but we were talking about this AU (which is definitely a series now, I guess?) and variations on it, and consequently I wrote this all on my phone all at once in a fit of madness and craving for soft interactions. The title is from North by Sleeping at Last because it's just such a damn soft song about building a home, and really fits the intended mood and themes of this.


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